Editing Female genital mutilation (section)

===Religion===
{{Further|Religious views on female genital mutilation|Khitan (circumcision)#Comparisons with female circumcision}}
Surveys have shown a widespread belief, particularly in Mali, Mauritania, Guinea, and Egypt, that FGM is a religious requirement.<ref>[[#UNICEF2013|UNICEF 2013]], 69–71.</ref> Gruenbaum has argued that practitioners may not distinguish between religion, tradition, and chastity, making it difficult to interpret the data.<ref>{{harvnb|Gruenbaum|2001|loc=[https://archive.org/details/femalecircumcisi0000grue/page/50 50]}}; [[#MackieLeJeune2008|Mackie and LeJeune (UNICEF) 2008]], 8–9.</ref> FGM's origins in northeastern Africa are pre-Islamic, but the practice became associated with Islam because of that religion's focus on female chastity and seclusion.{{efn|[[Gerry Mackie]], 1996: "FGM is pre-Islamic but was exaggerated by its intersection with the Islamic modesty code of family honor, female purity, virginity, chastity, fidelity, and seclusion."{{sfn|Mackie|1996|loc=1008}}}} According to a 2013 UNICEF report, in 18 African countries at least 10 percent of Muslim females had experienced FGM, and in 13 of those countries, the figure rose to 50–99 percent.<ref name="auto">[[#UNICEF2013|UNICEF 2013]], 175.</ref>

In 2007 the [[Al-Azhar University#Council of Senior Scholars|Al-Azhar Supreme Council of Islamic Research]] in Cairo ruled that FGM had "no basis in core Islamic law or any of its partial provisions".<ref>[[#UNICEFpress2July2007|UNICEF press release]], 2 July 2007; [[#UNICEF2013|UNICEF 2013]], 70.</ref>{{efn|Maggie Michael, Associated Press, 2007: "[Egypt's] supreme religious authorities stressed that Islam is against female circumcision. It's prohibited, prohibited, prohibited," Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa said on the privately-owned al-Mahwar network."<ref>Michael, Maggie (29 June 2007). [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/29/AR2007062901284.html "Egypt Officials Ban Female Circumcision"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170920162546/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/29/AR2007062901284.html |date=20 September 2017 }}, Associated Press, 2.</ref>}} There is no mention of the practice in the [[Quran]].{{sfn|Mackie|1996|loc=1004–1005}} It is praised in a few [[Hadith terminology|''daʻīf'']] (weak) ''[[hadith]]'' (sayings attributed to Muhammad) as noble but not required.<ref>{{harvnb|Roald|2003|loc=224}}; {{harvnb|Asmani|Abdi|2008|loc=6–13}}.</ref>{{efn|[[Gerry Mackie]], 1996: "The Koran is silent on FGM, but several ''hadith'' (sayings attributed to Mohammed) recommend attenuating the practice for the woman's sake, praise it as noble but not commanded, or advise that female converts refrain from mutilation because even if pleasing to the husband it is painful to the wife."{{sfn|Mackie|1996|loc=1004–1005}}}} Islamic scholars [[Abu Dawood|Abū Dāwūd]] and [[Ahmad ibn Hanbal|Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal]] reported that Muhammad said circumcision was a "law for men and a preservation of honor for women";{{sfn|Wensinck|2012}} some regard this [[Hadith]] as [[Hadith terminology|''daʻīf'']] (weak).<ref>{{cite book |title=Say No to Female Genital Mutilation |date=March 2016 |url=https://www.mwnhelpline.co.uk//go_files/issue/968436-MWNU%20FGM%20leaflet_WEB..pdf |publisher=Muslim Women's Network UK |page=11 |access-date=12 April 2025 |quote=This narration is regarded as weak...}}</ref> FGM is regarded as an obligatory practice by the [[Shafi'i]] version of [[Sunni Islam]].{{sfn|Roald|2003|loc=243}} [[Female genital mutilation in India|FGM in India]] is prevalent among the [[Shia Islam]] members of the [[Dawoodi Bohra#Female circumcision|Bohra]] Muslim community who practice it as a religious custom.<ref name="fgmindia">{{Cite journal |last1=Nanda |first1=Anjani |last2=Ramani |first2=Vandanee |date=2022-05-31 |title=The Prevalence of Female Genital Mutilation in India |journal=Journal of Student Research |volume=11 |issue=2 |doi=10.47611/jsrhs.v11i2.3285 |issn=2167-1907|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="bohra">{{Cite news |last=Cantera |first=Angel L. Martínez |date=2018-03-06 |title='I was crying with unbearable pain': study reveals extent of FGM in India |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/mar/06/study-reveals-fgm-india-female-genital-mutilation |access-date=2023-12-01 |issn=0261-3077 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208053233/https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/mar/06/study-reveals-fgm-india-female-genital-mutilation |archive-date=2023-12-08}}</ref>

There is no mention of FGM in the Bible.{{efn|Samuel Waje Kunhiyop, 2008: "Nowhere in all of Scripture or in any of recorded church history is there even a hint that women were to be circumcised."{{sfn|Kunhiyop|2008|loc=297}}}} The [[Skoptsy|Skoptsy Christian]] sect in Europe practiced FGM as part of redemption from [[Christian views on sin|sin]] and to remain chaste.{{sfn|Engelstein|1997}}
Christian missionaries in Africa were [[#Colonial opposition in Kenya|among the first]] to object to FGM,{{sfn|Murray|1976}} but Christian communities in Africa do practise it. In 2013 UNICEF identified 19 African countries in which at least 10 percent of Christian females aged 15 to 49 had undergone FGM;{{efn|The countries were Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sudan, and Tanzania.<ref>[[#UNICEF2013|UNICEF 2013]], p.&nbsp;73, figure 6.13.</ref>}} in Niger, 55 percent of Christian women and girls had experienced it, compared with two percent of their Muslim counterparts.<ref>[[#UNICEF2013|UNICEF 2013]], cover page and p.&nbsp;175.</ref> The only Jewish group known to have practised it is the [[Beta Israel]] of Ethiopia. Judaism requires male circumcision but does not allow FGM.<ref>{{harvnb|Cohen|2005|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=PmL-LogqJ-YC&pg=PA59 59]}}; {{harvnb|Berlin|2011|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=hKAaJXvUaUoC&pg=PA173 173]}}.</ref> FGM is also practised by [[Animism|animist]] groups, particularly in Guinea and Mali.<ref name="auto"/>
{{clear}}